Variable Names

Choose meaningful names for variables, constants and functions. Names are the heart of programming. In the past people believed knowing someone’s true name gave them magical power over that person. If you can think up the true name for something, you give yourself and the people coming after power over the code. Don’t laugh!

A name is the result of a long deep thought process about the ecology it lives in. Only a programmer who understands the system as a whole can create a name that “fits” with the system. If the name is appropriate everything fits together naturally, relationships are clear, meaning is derivable, and reasoning from common human expectations works as expected.

Good

weekly_pay = hours_worked * hourly_pay_rate;

Bad

a = b * c;